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The basics
In Health coverage, enable marketplace coverage after the household’s last paycheck. Supply both the benchmark monthly premium per person and the tax-family size. The form offers a state-based premium suggestion, but you must choose it or enter your own figure.
Once enabled and filled in, this setting prices premiums separately. Review your healthcare spending card so it contains the additional out-of-pocket costs you intend, without the same premium twice.
Illustrative numbers
A credit estimate that was too high
Advance credit used during the year$8,000
Credit allowed by final modeled income$5,000
Next-year repayment$3,000
A conversion or sale can increase income after the premium estimate was made. The projection records the credit settlement separately from the original premium.
Calculation transparency
How it works in MoneyWhatIf
- 01
Nothing is priced until coverage is enabled, the premium is positive, and tax-family size is supplied. Coverage begins at the household’s last retirement and ends for each adult when the model begins Medicare at 65.
- 02
Premiums reflect covered adults and the model’s age and inflation adjustments. A spouse moving to Medicare reduces the covered premium without necessarily reducing the tax-family size used for the credit.
- 03
ACA income adds back untaxed Social Security and tax-exempt interest. The shipped 2026 credit rules use the 100%–400% federal-poverty-level eligibility window; this is the model’s rule snapshot.
- 04
The advance estimate uses prior-return information with adjustments for events such as retirement and one-time income. The final credit is reconciled against the year’s modeled income, with excess advance credit repaid under the encoded rules.
Keep in mind
Model limits
The state suggestion is not a county-specific insurance quote or a coverage offer. The model does not include Medicaid or cost-sharing reductions.
This setting assumes marketplace coverage begins after the last retirement. It does not model every employer-coverage gap, enrollment rule, or family-member coverage arrangement.
This explanation documents the planning model. It is educational, not individualized tax, legal, Medicare, or investment advice.
Where it appears
Where to use it
See this concept in context, with a guide to each page and its controls.
The words behind it
Related financial terms
Plain-English definitions, with 2026 figures and worked examples, from the financial terms glossary.